


We'll Be Just Fine

by justbygrace



Series: Pete's World [10]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Happy Ending, a bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 05:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10678851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justbygrace/pseuds/justbygrace
Summary: "She wasn't sleeping."





	We'll Be Just Fine

She wasn't sleeping. He knew that not because of any superior anything, but because of a hundred nights spent checking on her sleep - after the first dalek, after the second, after the parallel universe, after the beast, after the wire. Back then there had always been a fear that she would waken and now, now he feared she wouldn't. And so he stayed where he was, frozen between the door and the couch, waiting to see what was supposed to happen next.

It had been a stupid argument in a series of increasingly stupid arguments and neither of them had been completely right or completely wrong or even completely sure why they were even fighting. This one had been particularly bad though. They had been saying - yelling really - rude things to each other, knowing where to hit to make it hurt, and he had suddenly turned and left. Now, staring down at her tear-streaked face, he couldn't imagine what had made him leave and, indeed, ten minutes after he had left, he couldn't imagine what had made him leave, but it was the principle of the thing and he had stayed where he was - crouched on some park bench - for entirely too long.

"Are you going to stand there all night?" Her quiet voice startled him.

"No, probably not," he agreed automatically, but made no effort to leave the doorway.

"Appears that you are," she commented, pushing herself upwards. Her hair was a mess, her tears had made a disaster of her make-up, the pillow had pushed creases in her face, and he thought he had never seen anything more beautiful.

He didn't stop to think, crossing the room in three steps and dropping to his knees beside the couch. "I'm sorry, Rose."

She reached out a hand, pushing his drooping fringe out of his eyes. "I know you are, Doctor. I am too. But we can't go on like this."

Her words sent a bolt of panic through him and his hands closed convulsively in the fabric of her shirt. "No, Rose, I'm sorry. I won't, I can't, you can't, please don't. I'm sorry, really, I'm sorry."

"Doctor." She maneuvered herself out of the couch until she was seated on the floor next to him. "Doctor, I'm not saying I'm going to leave."

"But you said..." he was cut off by her lips connecting with his, her tongue in his mouth, and he forgot what he was going to say in favor of this new development.

She pulled back way too soon and he couldn't help the little sound of discontent which brought a smile to her face, a ghost of her old tongue-touched one and his heart flipped at the sight of it.

"Do I have your attention now?" she asked, all the sternness of several generations of Prentice and Tyler women in her tone. He nodded hastily and she continued, "I love you and I know you love me, but we both need to stop comparing each other to what we once were. I am not the same girl that used to travel with you and you're not the same man that I used to travel with."

He tried to argue with her, but he knew she was right. They had both changed since then. He was not only half-Time Lord, half-human now, he'd had experiences and adventures that had changed him drastically since Rose had been torn from him. As for Rose, she'd had to practically become the Doctor of this universe and had done it brilliantly, but it had changed her, of course it had.

Rose could read the acquiesce on his face because her smile softened. "We're not going to figure this out tonight or probably even this week, but I have faith in us for eventually. Still the stuff of legends, right?"

"Yep!" he agreed brightly. "But you know what could help?"

"What?" She regarded him warily, no doubt expecting him to whip out the sonic screwdriver (yes, he'd nicked one) or suggest a trip to some far-off location (sadly on-planet for now).

"Well, I think we need to try all possible solutions. And there is this one that is just perfectly brilliant. Absolutely perfect, I think." He closed the distance between them infinitesimally as he spoke. "It seems to have done wonders at other times and I think, well, I just think we should double-check to see if it would do the same in this situation. It's a hypothesis of mine, you see."

"For the sake of science, of course," she muttered just before she met him halfway.


End file.
